Autopsy confirms New Hampshire patient had fatal rare brain disease

A patient who had brain surgery at a New Hampshire hospital and may have exposed others to the rare, degenerative brain disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob died of it, public health officials confirmed Monday.

After the patient died in August, officials suspected Creutzfeldt-Jakob, an always-fatal disease characterized by rapidly progressive dementia. But the only way to confirm it is through a brain biopsy or autopsy.